Wicked!: Design on the Edge of Bad Taste

Description

Die Faszination des Bösen.;A blood stained shower curtain, a lighter that shows an airplane aboutto collide with the Twin Towers, plush slippers shaped like penises: the world of commodities today is marked by stylistic diversity, irony, and trash - there are no limits on so-called bad taste. This book attempts to get to the bottom of the current fascination with the disgusting, the grotesque, and the provocative. Products from the most disparate realms are juxtaposed on facing pages. The result is confrontations that are sometimes surprising, with a fascination all their own. Introductoryessays by prominent authors shed additional light on wide-ranging aspects of design, morality, and irony. It is not just tasteless items that are placed under the microscope; politically incorrect ones have their place in this volume as well. Frontmatter -- Contents -- Is that Allowed? -- Watch out for the Joke! Design Between Audacity and Persiflage -- When Children Play Mean -- How Things Help Put our Morals to the Test -- Inverted! Kitsch and Evil -- The Beauty of Guns -- The Blood Mythos -- Revulsion, Sex, and Fecal Humor -- Conjuring the Sexual Drive -- Body Parts as Salvation -- Beautiful Forms Will Soon Be Lost -- Picture Credits -- Imprint.